Pentagon Shifts Special Operations Missions To Latin America

U.S. Department of Defense
January 30, 2013

Special Ops Command South Presses for Increased Engagement
By Donna Miles

====

“On any given day, I have over 300 people deployed downrange to Central and South America, including members of every service’s special operations force and their civil affairs and military information support teams,” he said. “SOC South is engaged 365 [days a year], 24/7.”

Mulholland cited Colombia as the shining example of what capacity building can achieve.

SOC South’s special operators help partner military and police forces…then embed with them to help them plan and conduct actual missions.

“I’m pushing them out to Honduras, to Colombia, to Peru, and increasing their level of engagement…”

====

WASHINGTON: Despite dwindling resources and a national defense focus on the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, the commander of Special Operations Command South is committed to not only maintaining, but increasing engagements in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Regular, sustained engagement is key to SOC South’s core mission: building partner capacity…Army Brig. Gen. Sean P. Mulholland told American Forces Press Service while here for an annual Special Operations and Low-intensity Conflict Symposium and Exhibition.

“On any given day, I have over 300 people deployed downrange to Central and South America, including members of every service’s special operations force and their civil affairs and military information support teams,” he said. “SOC South is engaged 365 [days a year], 24/7.”

A Green Beret who has served most of his career within Latin America, Mulholland said he’s convinced that persistent engagement establishes a level of credibility and trust simply not possible through traditional training and exercise programs. “Building partner capacity is planting seeds” that require nurturing over time, he said.

…

Since assuming command in October, Mulholland has made a concerted effort to promote these contacts, all governed by the host nation’s requests, in collaboration with the U.S. embassy country team and at the direction of U.S. Southern Command.

…

Mulholland cited Colombia as the shining example of what capacity building can achieve.

Historically, the FARC – Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – ran rampant in Colombia…But 25 years ago, the Colombian police force was corrupt and the military forces were in disarray.

Today, thanks to strong Colombian leadership and persistent U.S. support and engagement, Colombia has capable, highly respected security forces. In addition to securing their own country, they are now training other regional militaries.

…

Other success stories can be found in Brazil, which has long stood as a strong example in the region, and increasingly in Panama, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Mulholland acknowledged concerns about Honduras, where constrained resources limit its special operators’ ability to reach ungoverned sections of the country…

“The problem is that the activity is not persistent,” Mulholland said, noting that’s a problem SOC South alone can’t fix.

“Mobility is a big challenge in Honduras, and if you can’t get to the show in these ungoverned spaces, then that is a big issue,” he said.

Mulholland recognized that no matter how much he tries to expand engagements, he’ll never have the assets to keep up with demand. So he seeks out opportunities to partner in countries interested in “training, not just for training’s sake, but to go operational.”

SOC South’s special operators help partner military and police forces…then embed with them to help them plan and conduct actual missions.

…

This forms a bond simply not possible through traditional schoolhouse training and short-duration exercises, he said.

…

It’s a formula that’s been tested and proven over time, even while wartime requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan tapped some of SOC South’s personnel and equipment. At one point, for example, Mulholland was serving as commander of the 7th Special Forces Group that focused on Latin America and the Caribbean when he was deployed for a year to Regional Command North in Afghanistan.

…

Meanwhile, Mulholland has made a concerted effort to rebuild capabilities that have eroded during the past decade of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s pressing to increase Spanish-language proficiency across the command, speaking only in Spanish to his staff and offering Spanish classes for spouses.

In addition, he’s limiting the time SOC South members spend at their headquarters at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida.

“I’m pushing them out to Honduras, to Colombia, to Peru, and increasing their level of engagement without breaking their backs,” Mulholland said.

“In these times of reducing resources, we need to push out as much as we can,” he said. “We can’t take on this protracted tortoise mentality, saying we don’t have enough money or resources. Instead, I am going to do everything I can to get more people out there.

…

Pentagon Increases Support To French War Effort In Mali

U.S. Department of Defense
January 29, 2013

Air Force Continues Support to France in Mali
By Claudette Roulo

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Air Force continues to back French air operations in Mali through refueling efforts, logistical movements, troop transport and information sharing, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said today.

“Since French operations began Jan. 11, the U.S. has been sharing intelligence with the French,” Little told reporters. The United States has provided airlift support to the French army since Jan. 21, he added, and began refueling support for French air operations Jan. 27.

As of Jan. 27, the U.S. Air Force had flown 17 C-17 sorties, moving more than 391 tons of equipment and supplies and nearly 500 French personnel into Bamako, Little said.

One refueling mission has been conducted so far, Little said, when a KC-135 Stratotanker provided about 33,000 pounds of fuel to French fighter aircraft. More refueling missions are expected to take place today, he added, noting that the United States is in constant consultation with France on their operations in Mali.

Following a phone call between Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and his French counterpart, the United States also has agreed to support the international effort by providing airlift to countries in the region, including Chad and Togo, Little said.

Further French requests for assistance will be reviewed, Little said…

Anatole France: Emerging painfully from primitive barbarism, war

====

Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts

Anatole France: Selections on war

====

Anatole France
From Monsieur Bergeret In Paris (1901)
Translated by B. Drillien

“No, I don’t believe that men are naturally good,” replied Monsieur Bergeret. “What I see is that they are emerging painfully and very slowly from their primitive barbarism, and that with great effort they are organizing a justice that is uncertain and a charity that is precarious. The time is yet far distant when they will be kind and gentle to one another. The time is yet far distant when they will not war upon one another, and when pictures representing battle scenes will be hidden away as affording an immoral and shameful spectacle. I believe that the reign of violence will last a long time yet, that for many years to come the nations will rend one another asunder for trivial reasons; that for many years to come the people of the same country will desperately snatch from one another the common necessaries of life, instead of equitable dividing them. But I also believe that men are least ferocious when they are least wretched, that in the long run the progress of industry will produce a certain softening of manners. A botanist has assured me that if a hawthorn be transplanted from a stony to a fruitful soil its thorns will change into flowers.”

***

“My good friends, follow the example and behold a model in your chiefs, masters and rulers…It is good, profitable and necessary that you appear to desire a favourable, kind, assuaging and purging pacifism. What does it cost you? Naught. And you shall derive therefrom great profit. You that are not pacified shall appear pacified, and the other folk…who are in truth pacified, shall appear unpacified, corrupted, wayward, furious, wholly opposed and contrary to a gracious peace…And say not that this is difficult. It will be as you desire and you will make the simple folk believe that you desire peace. They will believe what you tell them, for they hearken unto you. If you say ‘I desire peace’ they will straightway believe that you do truly desire it. Say it then to give them pleasure, for ’twill cost you not.

“Nevertheless, for your enemies and adversaries which at first so piteously bleated ‘Peace! Peace!’ (for they be gentle as sheep, which cannot be gainsaid) it shall be lawful for you to brain them and say” ‘They desired not peace, therefore we have overthrown them. We do desire peace…’

“It is worthy of all praise pacifically to wage war. Cry ‘Peace, Peace!” and smite the while. This is Christian-like. ‘Peace, Peace, this man is dead! Peace, Peace! I have slain three men!’ Your intention was pacific and you will be judged according to your intention. The bells of the monasteries will ring a merry peal for you that love peace, and the praise of the peaceful citizens will follow you. They, seeing your victims’ gaping bellies lying upon the highway, will say: ‘That is well done! It is for peace’ sake. Long live peace! Without peace no man can live at ease.’” 

Georg Brandes: Selections on war

Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts

Georg Brandes: An Appeal Against Wholesale Murder

Georg Brandes: War, uninterrupted series of horrors, atrocities, and slaughter

Georg Brandes: The World at War

Georg Brandes: The Praise of War

Georg Brandes: Only officers and ammunition-makers wish war

Georg Brandes: Two million men held in readiness to exterminate each other

Georg Brandes: Wars waged by governments fronting for financial oligarchies

Georg Brandes: Abrupt about-face, the glorification of war

Georg Brandes: Giants of bloodshed; military staffs foster war

Georg Brandes: The future will look on war as the present looks on witchcraft, the Inquisition

Georg Brandes: War not fight for ideals but fight for concessions

William Blum: “There is a drone with Assange’s name on it”

Voice of Russia
January 28, 2013

‘There is a drone with Assange’s name on it’ – William Blum
John Robles

Assange will be assassinated if freed, expert says. In an exclusive interview with the Voice of Russia, William Blum, an American author, historian, and critic of United States foreign policy spoke about CIA assassinations (one of his areas of expertise) and some of his past work. Mr. Blum is candid in his assessment of CIA assassination plots against such people as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. He also has some surprising things to say about Julian Assange and Osama bin Laden.

Robles: Hello Mr. Blum, nice to be speaking with you.You have a very long and interesting history…a lot of things you have written. You wrote a book about the CIA. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Blum:Well, American interventions carried out via the CIA and all the U.S. military have been my specialty for many-many years. My books emphasize those things. As does my monthly newsletters “The Anti-Empire Report”.

As far as the backlash: the U.S. government doesn’t bother American authors that much, because they know we don’t have that much influence, they can afford to have us write things and point to that as proof of freedom of speech in America. So they don’t care.

Robles: I see. They said that you had exposed more than 200 CIA employees.

Blum: That was in 1969 when I was working for the “Underground Press” in Washington D.C. and I and a colleague we parked our car outside the CIA headquarters in Virginia and for a couple of hours or so, we recorded the license plate numbers of all the cars going into the CIA. And with that information we were able to compile a list of names and addresses of these people, which we published in our underground newspaper.

Robles: That sounds very interesting! You talked about CIA assassination plots, you’re pretty much an expert on that. Can you tell us a little bit about what you know about the plot to remove Hugo Chavez?

Blum: Assassination attempts? That was in 2004, the U.S. government met with the coup plotters both in Venezuela and Washington and these people then carried out a military coup which overthrew Chavez and the people took him to custody, but he was freed after about two days, because of a combination of public outcry and pressure from the remaining members of the military who were not part of the coup. So then he actually had and still has a lot of support in the military. He, himself was a member of it. So a combination of the military and a public outcry forced the coup plotters to abandon their plans and after two days Chavez was released.

Robles: Can you tell us about your book “Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower”? And could you comment on an endorsement you received, at the time, in 2006 by Osama bin Laden?

Blum: It was supposed to be a mini-encyclopedia of all the nefarious things done by the U.S. foreign policy. There’s a chapter on assassination, a chapter on bombings and so on. There are many chapters covering the gross and illegal aspects of U.S. foreign policy. It’s compiled together many things which most Americans, and most people in the world are not aware of.

Individual elements of each of these compilations one could find in some public area or other but to put it together into long tables of information was my contribution and that came out in about 2000. And then in 2006 the Arabic version of the book, the book had many foreign translations, there were two in Arabic and one of those two was read by Osama bin Laden and he, in one of his periodic audio recordings, mentioned that Americans would be well served if they read my book and get a better understanding of their enemy.

And I can only guess that the theme in that book Rogue State which most caught his attention and his sympathy was one chapter dealing with the motivations of anti-American terrorists. Contrary to what we were being taught, and still now to a large extent, were that these people were: just hated America, or they hated Christianity, or they were just crazy, or they were just envious of democracy and our wealth, all of these reasons, but never even a hint that they were acting out of retribution for the decades of very serious military and other infringements upon people in the Middle East. All kinds of bombings and overthrows of governments, supporting dictatorships, supporting Israel,all kinds of things I gave a long list of the American actions which created all these anti-American terrorists, and that is what I am assuming most appealed to bin Laden.

Robles: What do you know about the assassination plot to kill Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa? Before the elections, he is supposed to be assassinated.

Blum: This month you are speaking about?

Robles: Yes sir. Correa made this statement that they had uncovered a plot to assassinate him before…

Blum: I wouldn’t doubt that. I would be surprised if the CIA did not attempt to assassinate him. I mean among other reasons, he’s sheltering Assange! That by itself is reason to assassinate him.

Robles: Are you saying that just the fact that he’s given asylum to Assange, that’s enough for the CIA to assassinate him?

Blum: The CIA attempts to assassinate people for much less reasons than that. Assange is the public enemy №1 in America. The U.S. is obsessed with him and they are afraid that he will be issuing the release of more classified documents so they’d really like to put him out of the way, if they can.

They were all set to invade the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, when the British government was finally talked out of it by their own people: That it would set a terrible precedent, that the U.K. Embassies all over the world would not be safe then. That was the reason that they called off the invasion plan.

They’re very serious about Assange. I mean he has to go. He’s the most marked man in the world.

Robles: You think so? You said he’s enemy number one of the United States.

Blum: As far as being put out of the way? Yeah. I would say that if the US had a choice it would get him out of the way before anyone else.

Robles: So you think it’s pretty credible his fears of being assassinated by the CIA? Yeah?

Blum: There is a drone somewhere with his name on it, and if he walks around in the world and he is not in the midst of a big city, he’s a marked man. There’s a rocket with his name on it inside of a drone with his name on it. So I can not imagine that would not be the case. The CIA has, if you delve as much as I have into the history of assassinations and so on, that is totally expected.

Robles: So as an expert you are saying that it is totally expected?! Wow! Okay

Blum: If he’s walking around free somewhere. Yeah.

Robles: Sure. I see. I see. Hey Bill thank you very much! I really appreciate you speaking with me!

Closing

End of Part 1

William Blum is the author of several books on US foreign policy. He also sends out a monthly newsletter called “The Anti-Empire Report”

Space War: U.S.’s Former Nazi Scientists’ Dream Of Ruling World

Voice of Russia
January 31, 2013

 

‘America’s Nazi scientists fulfilling dream of ruling the world’ – Bruce Gagnon
John Robles

Audio: Download

 

In an exclusive interview with the Voice of Russia, Bruce Gagnon shares little known facts about the militarization of space by the United States, the development of first strike space drones and the foundation of the US military industrial complex by Nazi scientists bent on victory in World War III. If you thought missile defense and drones were bad, you haven’t heard anything yet.

Robles: According to your organization the US Space Command has publicly stated they intent to control space in order to protect US interests and investments. Is space now US territory?

Gagnon: Well, indeed the United States likes to believe that it owns space, and particularly the Space Command, who on their headquarters building in Colorado Springs, just above the doorway they have their logo that reads “Master of Space”. So, I think that it is quite evident that the Space Command does indeed view space as US territory that must be controlled because they clearly understand that all warfare on the earth today is coordinated by space technology and that whoever essentially controls space will control the planet below, in this case on behalf I believe of corporate globalization. And so the Space Command in our thinking has become the military arm of corporate globalization.

And so today the US is developing a whole host of technologies to allow it to fight war from space, through space and in space, controlling not only the Earth but also the pathway on and off the planet Earth, the pathway to other planetary bodies as resources are discovered on other planets: magnesium, cobalt, uranium, gold, water etc.

In a congressional study done back in the 1980s, the Congress gave the Pentagon the mandate to develop the technologies to control the pathway on and off the planet Earth. So, the Space Command sees its role in a very-very robust kind of way.

Robles: Several questions just popped up after what you just said. First one: how do they intend to “control the pathway”, I mean there is not only one pathway off the planet, I mean, how are they going to do that?

Gagnon: Well, in this particular study entitled “Military Space Forces the Next 50 Years”, they talk about the Earth-Moon Gravity Well, that whoever controls the Earth-Moon Gravity Well, essentially with bases on the Moon and armed space stations between, what they said were the L4 and L5 positions in space, they would be able to control these.

And interestingly enough, we know that it was in fact the former Nazi scientists that were brought to the United States following World War II under a program, a secret program, called Operation Paper Clip. These Nazi scientists that ran Hitler’s V1 and V2 rocket programs, they were the first to bring to the Congress of the United States, this idea of having orbiting battle stations controlling the pathway on and off the planet as well as the Earth below.

So, today again there is the whole host of technologies that are being developed by the Space Command. They say at the Pentagon that we are not going to get all of these technologies to work, but through the investment and the research and development in these various technologies, things like “Rods from God”: orbiting battle stations with tungsten-steel rods they would be able to hit targets on the Earth below…

Robles: They call those “Rods from God”?

Gagnon: Yes, they call it “Rods from God”. The new military space plane that is being tested now by the Pentagon, it has shown its ability to stay in orbit for a whole year at a time: an unpiloted space drone essentially. And then with ground stations all over the planet that the United States has established, what they call downlink stations that communicate with US military satellites all over the planet. This whole network has been put into place to really give the US, as they say in one of their planning documents, “control and domination of space”.

Robles: More questions: The space drone that you just mentioned, it is actually…it’s operational right now?

Gagnon: It is called the X37B, it’s been over the past couple of years. The testing program has accelerated and they’ve had three successful launches of it now. Just recently, I believe it was just at the end 2012, was the last of the missions, the third mission actually. But prior to that they had one of them spend a whole year in space.

The role of this X37B, or the military space plane, is somewhat in dispute. Some people believe that it is for surveillance, to spy on various countries, like Russia and China. Or others believe that it is actually a first strike weapons system whose job would be to fly down from orbit, drop an attack on a particular country.

In fact the Space Command annually war games a first strike attack on China set in the year 2016. And in one of the articles, in one of the industry publications, Aviation Week and Space Technology, I read a report about the first weapon that was used in one of these computer war game attacks of China, was this military space plane. So, indeed they are war gaming with it as a first strike weapon.

Robles: Now, you mentioned Nazi scientists a minute ago. I mean, it is not a very widely known fact that after World War II, I believe it was, about 400,000 Nazis found refugee in the United States. Can you tell us a little more on the scientists that were developing these programs and working with the US government? Can you expand on that a little bit?

Gagnon: Under Operation Paper Clip, 1,200 Nazis were brought into the United States, former Nazi intelligence. They were brought in to help create the CIA.

Wernher von Braun, the Nazi scientist that ran the V1 and V2 operations, was brought in. He became one of the leaders of NASA and he built the first successful rockets that were launched by the US military after the Kennedy administration wanted to respond to the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik.

Other Nazi scientists were brought in to create US Flight Medicine programs, the MKUltra LSD-drug experiments of the 1960s in the United States, where people were jumping out of windows and killing themselves because they were given drugs.

The people that were running these were the former Nazi scientists who had been doing similar tests on prisoners of war and Jews and other people in concentration camps inside of Germany.

So, the entire military industrial complex was seeded with these top Nazi operatives. And I’ve always maintained that when you do that: “Is there an ideological contamination that comes along with that?” My belief is: indeed there is.

Robles: That’s exactly the point I wanted to make myself.

Gagnon: Major-General Walter Dornberger was the Head of Hitler’s secret Space Development Program. He was brought to the United States to work for Bell Aerospace in New York State after the war.

He testified before the Congress in the 1950s. And I can quote him, he said to the Congress: “Gentlemen, I didn’t come to this country to lose the third world war, I lost two already.” And he again was one of the first to lay out this vision of control of space, giving the US full control of the planet Earth.

 

Bruce Gagnon is the coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.

Turkey: Four NATO Missile Batteries Operational

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
January 30, 2013

Four Patriot batteries operational in Turkey

(Bundeswehr photograph)

NATO now has command and control of two Dutch and two German Patriot batteries located in Adana and Kahramanmaras in the south of Turkey. These four Patriot anti-missile systems are now actively defending these locations from missile threats.

Allies have committed to a total of six Patriot batteries to augment Turkey’s air defences.The remaining two US Patriot batteries, which are expected to come under NATO command in the coming days, will be located in Gaziantep.

With full operational capability, the NATO Patriots will be capable of defending 3.5 million people in Turkey against missile attacks [sic].

(NATO photograph)

Guy de Maupassant: The army, murdering those who defend themselves, making prisoners of the rest, pillaging in the name of the Sword

====

Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts

***

Guy de Maupassant: Why does society not rise up bodily in rebellion at the word “war”?

Maupassant: How and why wars are plotted

Guy de Maupassant: I only pray that our sons may never see any wars again

====

Guy de Maupassant
From Boule de suif (1880)
Translator unknown

For several days in succession fragments of a defeated army had passed through the town. They were mere disorganized bands, not disciplined forces. The men wore long, dirty beards and tattered uniforms; they advanced in listless fashion, without a flag, without a leader. All seemed exhausted, worn out, incapable of thought or resolve, marching onward merely by force of habit, and dropping to the ground with fatigue the moment they halted. One saw, in particular, many enlisted men, peaceful citizens, men who lived quietly on their income, bending beneath the weight of their rifles; and little active volunteers, easily frightened but full of enthusiasm, as eager to attack as they were ready to take to flight; and amid these, a sprinkling of red-breeched soldiers, the pitiful remnant of a division cut down in a great battle; somber artillerymen, side by side with nondescript foot-soldiers; and, here and there, the gleaming helmet of a heavy-footed dragoon who had difficulty in keeping up with the quicker pace of the soldiers of the line. Legions of irregulars with high-sounding names “Avengers of Defeat,” “Citizens of the Tomb,” “Brethren in Death” passed in their turn, looking like banditti. Their leaders, former drapers or grain merchants, or tallow or soap chandlers — warriors by force of circumstances, officers by reason of their mustachios or their money — covered with weapons, flannel and gold lace, spoke in an impressive manner, discussed plans of campaign, and behaved as though they alone bore the fortunes of dying France on their braggart shoulders; though, in truth, they frequently were afraid of their own men — scoundrels often brave beyond measure, but pillagers and debauchees.

***

Orders shouted in an unknown, guttural tongue rose to the windows of the seemingly dead, deserted houses; while behind the fast-closed shutters eager eyes peered forth at the victors – masters now of the city, its fortunes, and its lives, by “right of war.” The inhabitants, in their darkened rooms, were possessed by that terror which follows in the wake of cataclysms, of deadly upheavals of the earth, against which all human skill and strength are vain. For the same thing happens whenever the established order of things is upset, when security no longer exists, when all those rights usually protected by the law of man or of Nature are at the mercy of unreasoning, savage force. The earthquake crushing a whole nation under falling roofs; the flood let loose, and engulfing in its swirling depths the corpses of drowned peasants, along with dead oxen and beams torn from shattered houses; or the army, covered with glory, murdering those who defend themselves, making prisoners of the rest, pillaging in the name of the Sword, and giving thanks to God to the thunder of cannon — all these are appalling scourges, which destroy all belief in eternal justice, all that confidence we have been taught to feel in the protection of Heaven and the reason of man.

Syria: Israel Launches Deadly Air Raid On Military Facility

Russian Information Agency Novosti
January 31, 2013

Syria Says Israel Strikes Military Facility

BEIRUT: An Israeli airstrike hit a military research center in Syria on Wednesday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing a statement by the Syrian army’s general command.

“Israeli fighter jets violated our airspace at dawn today and carried out a direct airstrike on our scientific and research center, which works to raise our resistance and self-defense,” the statement reads.

Syrian state TV said two people were killed and five injured in an airstrike on the Jamraya military research center northwest of the capital Damascus.

The building was seriously damaged during the airstrike.

Western media reported earlier on Wednesday that the Israeli military aviation hit targets on the Syrian-Lebanese border.

…

—————————————————————————-

Xinhua News Agency
January 31, 2013

Israeli airstrike targeted science facility near Syrian capital: military

DAMASCUS: Israeli war jets sneaked off radars and hit a center for scientific research in a suburb of Syrian capital Damascus at dawn Wednesday, the General Command of the Syrian Military said in a statement.

The military statement, splashed in a thick red news bar on the state-TV, said the Israeli fighter jets penetrated at dawn Wednesday the Syrian airspace and directly struck one of the country’s scientific research center located in the Jumraya suburb of the capital.

The attack came after many unsuccessful attempts by the “armed terrorist groups” to capture this site over the past months, the military statement said, hinting that the Israeli air raid played in the hands of the rebels.

It said the facility was responsible for lifting up the level of resistance and self-defense, adding that the attack led to the killing of two workers and the wounding of five others.

The war jets sneaked in from the border region of al-Shaikh Mountain at a law altitude and under the radar and headed toward Jumraya, said the statement, which totally rubbished as unfounded media reports claiming that the airstrike targeted a convoy that was allegedly heading from Syria to Lebanon.

…

Decrying the move as “flagrant intervention” to the Syrian airspace, the military contended that Israel is the driving force and beneficiary of the terrorist acts committed in Syria with the partnership of Qatar and Turkey.

It said that the Israeli move would not dissuade Syria from keeping on supporting the resistance movements, the foremost of which is the Palestinian cause.

While condemning the move, the military statement said nothing about a possible payback for the Israeli aggression.

…

Russian Experts Warn Of Unacknowledged, Ongoing Third World War

Voice of Russia
January 30, 2013

Informational nature of modern war
Sergey Duz

====

[I]f World War III is on, this is the nature of this war. Before attacking a country it is necessary to destabilize the situation there to create a civil standoff. It is better to fight with someone else’s hands because the losses among one’s own servicemen are too expensive for the reputation and the budget.

The paramount goal of a war is neither destroying an enemy’s armed forces nor seizing the territory. The goal is to become the author of a new world order of the post-war era.

====

Russia’s Defense Minister, General Sergei Shoigu, presented the Defense Plan of Russia to President Vladimir Putin. According to the minister, the document takes into account all possible threats and risks the country may face in the coming decades.

“In our opinion, a fairly complete analysis of what we can expect in the coming decades has been conducted. This is why we believe that it is ready for approval. I would certainly like to add that at the same time it is not a final, inflexible document. Considering various events around the country, different threats, it can definitely be adjusted and will be adjusted, of course,” the minister said.

Political analysts are speaking about the growing number of military threats to Russia. At the recent meeting of the general assembly of the National Military Academy the conclusion was made that use of force continued to play the key role in settlement of economic and political disagreements between countries. Some of the flashpoints are located close to Russian borders.

In recent years a significant group of experts noted that possible military threats would have a local scale or regional one at maximum.

Some experts note that the border between the states at peace and war is being erased. Nations don’t declare wars anymore, while current wars deviate from the traditional war scenarios. Nevertheless, in terms of consequences, new types of conflicts are comparable to wars. A peculiar feature of modern conflicts is a wide use of non-military methods – humanitarian, economic and political sanctions. For example, those who mastermind a conflict use the protesting sentiments of the population in the country they plan to attack.

Pessimists claim that the Third World War has already been on, referring to the events of the Arab Spring. They say that this is a tough and uncompromising war, which is conducted under new rules. This war does not necessarily look like explicit violence and military actions. The main goal is to affect people’s mentality.

In fact it is a struggle between elite groups, which have power and other resources which are necessary for winning an information war. Actually, if World War III is on, this is the nature of this war. Before attacking a country it is necessary to destabilize the situation there to create a civil standoff. It is better to fight with someone else’s hands because the losses among one’s own servicemen are too expensive for the reputation and the budget.

Ruining a country and setting up a puppet government is less expensive and more efficient than destroying the country’s armed forces. This principle has always been true, but today with the development of information technologies those who are striving for global hegemony have made it the cornerstone. The paramount goal of a war is neither destroying an enemy’s armed forces nor seizing the territory. The goal is to become the author of a new world order of the post-war era.